82 - -- "- == TH E ... GORY GAZETTE If The Gorv Gazette "\\rere not a col- umn sternlý devoted to the various homicidal activities of Inner Sanc- tum Mysteries, it might yield to the season and break out in verse. (Another thing that stops us: 'we don't 'write very good verse.) . However, the temptation '\. '? i is strong, not just be- J . cause it's Valentine's Day, &.ð but mostly because this month's... . Inner Sanctum Mystery is Home ,:\J II'" . Sweet Homicide by CRAIG RICE, e, .-. ,vhich makes us eap into a l ric '\ \\\\ JI _,: mood. It does thIngs to more Im- partial critics too. For example, DOROTHY HUGHES ,vrites: "Any new CRAIG RICE is a definite event; she is one of the bright lights of American literature in its 'wider aspects." . Well, the scope of Home Sweet Homicide is certainly wide. As a matter of fact, Home Sweet Homi- cide is, we believe, the first recorded instance of an autobiographical mystery story. Any resemblance between its characters and, CRAIG RICE'S ,vhole darn family is definitely not coincidental. There's this ,voman mystery ,vriter, f\.larion Carstairs, 'with three of the most engaging kids in or out of lit- erature. J\10ther has to turn out about five books a year under different names in order to pay the rent and buÿ all the stuff that three kids have to have. Then, all of a sudden, , there's this l11urder right next 1--- J door. So naturally, the kids l 1i IJ figure that f\.lother ought to... solve the murder and get all the publicity. From there on it's a race between the three young Carstairs and the police; obviously the Íllurderer never stands a chance. Neither, incidentally, does Mother. . It is unnecessary to tell CRAIG RICE - readers that this new novel is for adults only. However, for the bene- fit of newcomers into the fold: Home Sweet Homicide is for adults only, and they had better be pretty sophisticated adults too. If you're tired of eagle-eyed detectives, sinister but- lers, and helpless, slightly idiotic heroines, 'vhat you need is J ;_ J I I HOME SWEET HOMICIDE by Craig Rice AN INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY . PRICE $2.00 PUBLISHED BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER of the South which figures in the ballad of "Frankie and Johnny," must some- where have been put into print before the year 1900. (It is also queer to find that "catao," an unfamiliar word that occurs in one of the quotations under "clam"-something that Governor Winthrop, in his history, says the early New Englanders ate-is nowhere de- fined in this dictionary. Nor is it to be found in \Vebster or the NED.) It is not altogether the fault of Craigie that this work is less sure and complete than one might have hoped it would be. The conditions for such research in the United States could not give such satis- factory results as the conditions under which the NED was, compiled. The edi- tors of the great Oxford dictionary took seventy years for their task. Sir James A. H. Murray, who began it, died be- fore the work was finished; and in the meantime, in reinforcement to the pro- fessionallexicographers, there had been reading for quotations, all over Eng- land, generations of volunteer scholars, lawyers, parsons, and country gentle- men who had leisure to sift mountains of print. \Ve have hardly any such class in America, and the work had most- ly to be done by graduate students at Chicago, who were often unable to stay long with the job. It may be, too, that the pressure for quick re- sults that tends to force all such proj- ects in America is to blame for bringing. ff I 'L o.ut the dictionary before it was quite De rIpe. Yet, though it lacks the majestic im- pressiveness of its English counterpart, with the latter's dedication to Queen Victoria and its noble quotation from Dr. Johnson, with its effect of ancient words and spellings having grown on the language like ivy and lichen, and a pleasant impression we get of the relish of the British philologists turning over the subsoil of the national speech, the new dictionary' of American English is immensely entertaining to read. It is wonderful to be able to run your eye down a column and see the history of a word in quotations. This has sometimes its disappointments, too. It is a pity that, in the case of the political parties, both definitions and quotations are inade- quate. It would be difficult for a foreign- er consulting this dictionary to find out anything about American politics. The Democratic party is simply defined as "one of the two strongest political par- ties in the United States," whereas the Republican party is not, as one might expect, explained in the same way but defined in terms of its policies. About the policies of the Greenhaclzers and ERst first book of drawings in ten years. With a preface by Dorothy Parker. $3.00 MEN, WOMEN AND DOGS I Harcourt, Brace and Company Supreme Authority" IS WORTH WAITING FOR . . -',"0.. . WÊBS \:; ' \,[JJ' INTERNA:rig . ,,! !!-'y 1V4l . . :': :k :*1' ,t ÔlTlRil'ÿN ?. "' ' /: f,ATESTIJNABRlD. oOI("'< ..'.. á ,!!;" 'GED "'-.:. .' '^ ;, Ä? .>", ,{.. .:' ç ', > Be gWte',: ",: 'lfo.u qei the;, /';<'" ' MERRIAM e . "'\> . '/,{J eMiø" , Vi WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY d.u.øná D EMAND is . heavy and paper rationed, but better to wait for your copy of the MERRIAM. Webster than accept a substitute. Ask for the genuine Webster- the MERRIAM- Webster - identified by the circular trade- mark. Contains 3,350 pages, illustrations for 12,000 terms, and a total of 600,000 entries -122,000 more than any other dictionary.. Order now from your bookseller or stationer. He will get your copy as sooo as he can. G. & C. MERRIAM CO., Springfield 2, Mass.